The Government of Guyana continues to press ahead with its focus on agriculture as evidenced by its handing over of an investment agreement with Demerara Dairy Inc (DDI) for the establishment of a $3 billion state-of-the-art dairy farm and milk processing facility.
This disclosure was made yesterday in a Department of Public Information (DPI) release which also informed that when completed, the facility is expected to create 70 direct jobs and another 150 jobs indirectly.
According to DPI, the agreement was previously signed by the Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance and the Public Service, Dr Ashni Singh, and handed over by Guyana’s Chief Investment Officer and Agency Head of the Guyana Office for Investment, Dr Peter Ramsaroop, to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), Komal Samaroo.
Samaroo told DPI, “Milk is a very internationally competitive commodity and so we have designed a dairy farm with [the most] updated technology in the world so that the milk that we produce in the farm in Guyana can compete in the regional market against milk imported from other parts of the world.”
The release stated that the farm will be located at Moblissa and will have 250 hectares of field crops under cultivation, along with a 22-tonne per day animal feed centre, and a 13.7-tonne per day raw milk dairy farm.
The processing plant will be at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.
The first phase will see the utilisation of some 925 animals (500 milking cows, and 415 heifers). Each cow is estimated to produce 10,000 litres of milk annually, while the processing plant at Diamond will be capable of producing some 19.2 tonnes or 18,600 litres of premium milk products.
“We expect to have the first milk produced in the third quarter of next year. This investment agreement here today will allow us to install the necessary equipment to process and package that milk to an internationally acceptable standard for the domestic and export market,” Samaroo explained.
He noted that DDL is on a major expansion programme, building brands on a competitive basis as he mentioned the launch of the Savannah Milk Brand a few years ago.
“There is an export opportunity and there is the reduction of import. So, on all sides of the economic spectrum, there are benefits that will accrue to Guyana,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ramsaroop asserted that this will revolutionise the local dairy industry and reduce dependency on such imports, pointing out that the Caribbean imports more than a US$ 1 billion worth of powdered and boxed milk from New Zealand and Australia.
“To see Guyana step into the production facility, we had an earlier investor, Amaya, that is taking milk from Region Five, and bottling it. This is now moving to a higher level. It’s in Region Ten, significant job opportunities will be available for Region Ten residents.”
This venture, Ramsaroop stressed, fits into President Irfaan Ali’s vision and the vision of the Caribbean Community to reduce its food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025 and the efforts to brand Guyana as a major producer in agriculture.
The investment is a joint venture between Tropical Orchard Products Company Limited, a subsidiary of Demerara Distillers Limited, and LG Group, an Israeli company. The Guyana Office for Investment played an active role in facilitating this investment, the DPI added.
